They had a Disney parade for us before we even went to the Finals. It was a mistake. The whole way we approached it was a mistake. When you get to the point where I am now, retired and looking back, you recognize the 1995 Finals as a lost opportunity. You wish you had a chance to do it over, but it doesn’t work that way.
So after four days off, we start practicing and we are terrible. We’re sluggish but we’re still cocky, because we beat Houston twice that year and in our minds, we’ve got this.
At night after practice, DScott and BShaw and Anthony Avent would come to my house. Anthony could sing a little, so we decided to go in my music studio and make our own rap championship song.
We figured if we had it all done before the Finals started we could capitalize on it once we won the whole thing.
Game 1 was in our building and we came out flying. We led by 20 points in the second quarter. Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler brought Houston back, but we had a three-point lead at the end of the game and all Nick Anderson had to do was hit some free throws. He missed four straight.
I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to knock him out after that game—not so much because he missed the free throws, but because he was laughing and pounding his chest after he did. I know he was doing it because he was nervous, but the way he behaved made me sick.
I’ve never said this before, but one of the reasons I was mad at him was because I really felt he disrespected the basketball gods. He missed two free throws and he was banging his chest like he won the lottery.
All that bullshit he did drove me crazy. All he had to do was hit one free throw. Just one.
The other thing that upset me was they were running a pick-and-roll with Hakeem and Clyde Drexler and I kept telling BHill we shouldn’t help on it, but that was how he wanted to play it.
So what happens? Clyde blows right past Nick and I’ve got to help, and Nick doesn’t drop so my guy Hakeem gets a tip-in. So now because Nick can’t guard his own damn guy it looks like I can’t guard mine, either. Number one, just make a free throw; and number two, when I come over to help because your guy abuses you, at least drop down and do what you’re supposed to do. I swear. I wanted to kill him.
After the game he was at his locker and I went right for him. I was about two inches from his face. I said, “What the hell are you doing? You’re playing like a wuss.” He didn’t say a word. He just sat there with his head down.
I wanted to hit him, but I knew if I did, we would have gotten swept.
Turns out we did anyway.
The problem was we all knew Nick was done after Game 1. He was shook and he couldn’t recover. Couldn’t look at any of us. He was afraid to go to the line. Done. Completely done.
Looking back, it was probably my fault for jumping all over him like that. I was probably too hard on him. I was still learning how to be a leader.
After we’re down 0–2 I could see which way it was going. I was so angry, so upset. I just couldn’t understand it. We had dominated Houston during the regular season, yet here we were, blowing the damn series. I got into my Hoop-D car and I took off.
I drove all night—to Miami and back. That’s how I relieve stress. I drive and listen to my music. I got to Miami in about two and a half or three hours, looked at the water, then came back.
I was trying to think of a way to turn it around. I had all sorts of questions rattling around in my head. Am I playing hard enough? Can I do something else? Are we coming back, or is it over? I thought I might come up with some answers. Instead, I just came home exhausted, having burned up a ton of gasoline.
I was trying to tell Brian Hill to just let Hakeem score. I’m going to score on the other end. It will all balance off. But he wanted to double-team everybody. We’re double-teaming Clyde Drexler and we’re doubling Hakeem. It’s really ticking me off because I felt it was the wrong strategy, and if we lose, it’s all on me.
That was when I realized that if we win, I’m going to get most of the credit, and if we lose, I’m getting all of the blame. That’s how it works when you are the CEO, the superstar.
Once I caught on to that, I was like, “Give me the fucking ball. If it’s going to be on my head, then throw me the ball so I can get the job done.”
But Hakeem just dominated me in that series. Looking back, I was too respectful to him. I held him in such high regard I forgot I was supposed to be kicking his ass.
After they swept us, the fans smacked our charter bus with brooms on our way out of Houston. Coach Hill said, “Remember how this feels.”
It took me a while to get over it. Dennis Tracey and I took our girlfriends on vacation to St. Pete, and we were sitting on the beach at night talking about what went wrong and everyone was having a drink and I decided, Well, maybe if I have a drink it will make me feel better. I’ll have some of that pink Zinfandel.
I drank two bottles of pink Zinfandel in about ten minutes’ time. Then I threw up, and that was the end of that experiment.
You’d think since I was only twenty-three and Penny was only twenty-two we’d have plenty of chances to win a title for Orlando, but the following season, in 1995–96, it seemed as though everything that could go wrong did.
Penny decided he wanted a new contract. A big contract. I was like, “Hey, he deserves it, he’s a great player,” because I’m figuring the DeVos family owns Amway and everybody is always buying the stuff they sell, so there’s enough money for everyone to get paid.
Penny holds out for a few days and the media is killing him, and I’m the only one who sticks up for him. So he finally gets his, but then when it’s time for my new deal at the end of the year, Penny is nowhere to be found. I find out that he wants to make sure he’s the highest-paid player on our team. He’s telling people in the front office, “This is my team. It’s a guard’s league now.”
I can’t believe it. Craziest thing I’ve ever heard. Because I knew Penny was kinda soft and he’d be screwed if he wasn’t playing with me. I could take the heat. I could handle the pressure. He wasn’t wired like that.
The bad thing is when you have two alpha males on the team that don’t have the same understanding, things can go haywire. That’s what happened with Penny and me. I was the AA alpha male and Penny was the AB alpha male. Somewhere along the way he decided he could do it without the big dawg.
It didn’t help that I broke my thumb and missed the first two months of the 1995–96 season. It happened in an exhibition game against Miami. Matt Geiger karate-chopped me. I said, “I blame [Coach Pat] Riley for my broken thumb, not Matt Geiger. That ain’t defense Miami is playing. That’s just chopping. I have no idea how his team gets away with it. I guess when you’ve been in the league thirty years you can do it. Respect—Riley gets it—he’s like John Gotti.”
Horace was hurt that year, too. We were winning, but the chemistry had changed.
Whenever we went to New York to play the Knicks or the Nets I always went by to see my grandmother Odessa. I was looking forward to seeing her because every time I called for her, she wasn’t around. I should have known, looking back, that something was wrong. She was sick, dying of cancer, but nobody was going to tell me that in the middle of my NBA season. All I knew was Grandma wasn’t feeling well and was tired a lot.
When I showed up to see her it was obvious she was in her final days. We were playing the Knicks on April 3, and I got there on April 2. She was very frail. I think she was waiting on me. I held her hand, talked to her awhile, and then she said, “You want to fight me?” After that she closed her eyes. She slipped into a coma later that night.
I went back to see her the next afternoon around two and the nurse there said, “She’s going to die at eight o’clock.” I’m ticked off at this lady and I say, “Well, if you think that, you better get somebody over here. I have money. Call whoever you need. Money is no object.”
This nurse just said, “No, it’s too late. She’s going to die at eight o’clock.”
I swear to God, my grandmot
her Odessa died at eight o’clock on the dot, right in her home, in her own bedroom. I don’t know how that lady knew, but she did. My cousins and I were all sitting with my grandma. When she left us, we all started crying. My cousin Brian started kicking tables, breaking things. My mother was there, so I had to man up and take care of her. I was hurting, but I had to console my mother.
We called the nurse, and they came and they put my grandmother in a bag and they zipped it up, and we all lost it again. I had to carry her outside and put her in the van. Hardest thing I’ve ever done.
I was sitting with my grandmother, watching her die, while my teammates were beating the Knicks. They went back home and played the Celtics the next night, on a Thursday, but obviously I stayed behind.
My plan was to take the week off. My grandmother’s death hit me hard, and I was in no shape to play basketball.
Her funeral was beautiful but very sad. Grandmother Odessa had planned it all herself, right down to the flowers and the music. I tried to hold it together, but I couldn’t. I was so mad she was gone I took it out on the church door. I hauled off and punched a hole right through it. I was lucky I didn’t break my hand.
Our team was playing a nationally televised game that Sunday against Mike and the Bulls, so that Saturday Brian Hill told reporters, “I don’t know where Shaq is, so if he comes, he’s not going to play.”
I had gone to Atlanta right after the funeral, because I didn’t want to be around anybody. Dennis Scott was the only one who knew where I was. He called me and said, “Yo, man, they’re looking for you.” I said, “Why are they looking for me?” He told me what was going on. I was ticked off. Why were they acting like they had no idea what was going on in my life? I woke up Sunday, chartered a plane, got there in the second quarter and played 33 minutes. I had 21 points and 9 rebounds, but we lost.
I called Brian Hill on his bluff. I knew if I showed up he’d play me. I don’t know why he disrespected me like that in the papers when I was dealing with something so personal and so serious. It’s not like I was on vacation. I was grieving. I had lost one of the most important people in my life. To be honest with you, I think that was when my relationship with the Magic started breaking down.
They knew how much my grandmother meant to me. It was the first time someone so close to me had died, and I was struggling with it. She was such a special woman. I was always trying to do something nice for her, but she never wanted it. I’d tell her, “Grandma, I’ve got a nice mansion picked out for you, right next door to Eddie Murphy.” She’d just say, “Nope.” I’d say, “Grandma, stop working. I’ll take care of you.” She’d say, “Nope.”
We started a foundation in her memory. It’s called the Odessa Chambliss Quality of Life fund, and it helps nursing students further their education. You should think about making a donation. (That’s what we in the business world call “cross-promoting.”)
Both Penny and I had a good year in 1995–96, but we got swept in the playoffs by that Chicago Bulls team that went 72-10 and will probably go down as one of the best teams ever.
Now my contract is up, and that’s when I learn there is no loyalty in this game. None whatsoever. Zero.
You just have to develop a thick skin and accept it. I knew there was no loyalty when I watched Patrick Ewing get traded, and Dominique Wilkins, too. Even Michael Jordan switched teams. Ewing made the Knicks. ’Nique made the Hawks. Jordan made the Bulls. I know they were at the end of their careers and they thought it would be best for them to go somewhere else, but it should never come to that.
I wanted to stay in Orlando. Leonard wanted me in Los Angeles because of Hollywood and all the opportunities, but also because he knew right away Orlando wasn’t going to pay me.
I was naive, I guess. I didn’t really believe that. I loved the DeVos family. They were great people. I think it was John Gabriel’s call. He started low, too low. And we probably started too high. I was saying I wanted $150 million, but everyone knew I wasn’t serious.
The Magic offered me seven years at $69 million. Leonard had already started talking to me about $100 million because he thought I could be the first guy to get that kind of money. It sounded like a lot to me, but I was the best young player in the game at that time and I figured, Why not me?
Back then, after your first contract expired, you became a free agent. You could sign with anybody. But right after I left Orlando they changed the rules. Now after your first contract you are what they call a “restricted” free agent, which means the team that drafted you can match any offer. That wasn’t true in my case.
We were keeping an eye on the other free agents in the league. Leonard called me up and told me Juwan Howard had signed for $105 and Alonzo Mourning had signed for $110 million.
Now the market was set. Orlando had to pay me $100 million. In fact, we asked for $115 million. But they wouldn’t. They came back with four years, $80 million. I asked John Gabriel why they wouldn’t pay me what he knew I deserved and he said, “We don’t want to upset Penny. We can’t pay you more than Penny.”
I couldn’t believe that. It was like they had punched me in the gut.
In the meantime, Jerry West, the general manager for the Lakers, is calling and telling us, “Listen, I know you deserve more than Juwan and Mourning, but right now all I can get you is $98 million.”
I was so glad to hear that I told Leonard, “Let’s take it. Let’s take the $98 million and get this over with. I want to be somewhere where I’m wanted.”
Right about that time, the Orlando Sentinel came out with a poll. The first question they asked was “Is Shaquille O’Neal worth $115 million?” Ninety-one percent of the people said no. The other question they asked was “Should the Magic fire Brian Hill if that is Shaq’s condition for returning?” About 82 percent of the people said no to that one. I wasn’t calling for Brian Hill to be fired. I had my issues with him, but they had the wrong superstar. It was Penny who had issues with BHill, not me.
At the time the poll came out, I was playing for the 1996 Olympic team and we were training in Disney. I heard about that poll from all the fellas. Charles Barkley and Scottie Pippen were ragging on me. They were saying things like, “Your own fans don’t want you.” I won’t lie to you—it was embarrassing.
My mother was very upset by all the negative publicity. She called me up one day and said, “Are you being a little greedy, son?” I told her, “Nope, there are guys out there getting $100 million, and I’m better, so I need $120 million.” She said, “Well, okay, I won’t tell you how to do your business, but I was just wondering. That sounds like so much money.”
She was looking at those numbers and she couldn’t make sense of it. Remember now, this is the same woman who wanted to put my stereo system on layaway.
Everyone else in Orlando was doing what my mother was doing. They were looking at all that money and saying, “The hell with Shaq. Nobody is worth that kind of money.”
They didn’t understand the business of the NBA. Meanwhile, I was getting my own crash course on the economics of the league.
I’m ready to take $98 million from LA, but Jerry West calls back and he’s excited because he had just traded George Lynch and now he can give us seven years and $121 million. I loved Jerry West before, but now I loved him even more.
I was in Atlanta when all that news came down, because the Olympics were about to start. By that point I just wanted it done. That poll bothered me. The fans seemed like they had turned on me. I had worked my ass off for that city, and this was how they repaid me?
At that point the Magic realized they had totally blown it, so they made a last-ditch effort to salvage the deal. John Gabriel and Bob Vander Weide hopped on a private plane to Atlanta. They went to see Leonard, who was shagging volleyballs for USA star Holly McPeak. He ended up marrying Holly, actually. John and Bob were in suits and ties, and Leonard was dressed in a pair of gym shorts.
They told Leonard they would match what the Lakers were offering. Leona
rd said thank you and sent them on their way, but it was too little too late. I hadn’t signed anything, but I had given Jerry West my word I was going to play for the Lakers and I wasn’t going back on that.
Gabriel knew it was over. Bob Vander Weide said to him as they flew back to Orlando, “I thought that went well.” Gabriel answered, “Bob, we’ve lost him.”
When Jerry West flew into Atlanta with the contract, he was so nervous he was actually shaking. He was telling me, “We’re going to win a lot of championships. We’ve got you and I’ve got this eighteen-year-old kid coming in. Wait until you see him. He’s going to be the best player in the game some day.”
I had met Kobe Bryant once in our locker room in Orlando, but I hadn’t really ever heard of him. To be honest, I was barely listening. I was thinking my usual Spooky Wook stuff, so I wanted to say to Jerry West, “Okay, can I just sign this in case something happens to me?” You know, like the Unabomber or something. I just wanted it done.
So now the contract is signed and I’m the highest-paid player in the game, but I don’t say a word. I go to my Olympic practice and I’m looking around at Penny, who is now my former teammate but he doesn’t even know it, and I don’t say anything.
For one thing, I didn’t want to brag. We were training for the Olympics and talking every day about being one team, not individuals. It just didn’t seem right to be puffing my chest out about my salary. Besides, I knew we were going to hold a press conference the following day.
We did it right in Atlanta. Penny was really pissed. I didn’t care. Penny wanted to be the highest-paid player on the Magic. Good luck with that, bro.
The reaction from Orlando was ugly. People were angry. They felt betrayed, Well, join the club. That was how I felt, too.
I said some things they didn’t like. I called the city of Orlando a “dried-up pond.” Obviously I didn’t mean it. My entire family lives in Orlando, and it is where I live today. I was hurt and it just came out. I wish I could take that one back.
Shaq Uncut: My Story Page 11